Air-breathing plasma thruster
AssigneeU.S. Department of Energy
InventorYevgeny Raitses
Life of this patent
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Abstract
One or more embodiments relates to an air-breathing plasma thruster including a thruster wall, an anode, a cathode, and at least one ring electrode. The thruster wall defines a cylindrical channel, the cylindrical channel having a first end and an opposing second end in fluid communication with the first end, where the cylindrical channel is adapted to receive incoming airflow. The anode is at the first end of the channel and the cathode is at the second end of the channel opposite the first end. The at least one ring electrode is positioned on the thruster wall.
Claims18
A method of forming a plasma jet using an air-breathing plasma thruster, the method comprising:
- receiving incoming airflow in a cylindrical channel defined by an inside wall of the air-breathing thruster, forming a volume of air;
- ionizing the volume of air using electron beams generated by one or more cathodes and confined by segmented electrodes and one or more magnetic field cusps, forming ionized air;
- accelerating the ionized air using applied electric and diverging magnetic fields, forming a plasma jet;
- and
- generating the plasma jet at an outlet of the air-breathing thruster.
A method of forming a plasma jet using an air-breathing plasma thruster, the method comprising:
- forming a volume of air in a cylindrical channel of the air-breathing thruster;
- ionizing the volume of air using electron beams generated by cathodes and confined by segmented electrodes including at least one electron-emitting electrode, and one or more magnetic field cusps, forming ionized air;
- accelerating the ionized air using applied electric and diverging magnetic fields, forming a plasma jet;
- and
- generating the plasma jet at an outlet of the air-breathing thruster.
A method of forming a plasma jet using an air-breathing plasma thruster, the method comprising:
- forming a volume of air in a cylindrical channel of the air-breathing thruster;
- ionizing the volume of air using electron beams generated by cathodes and confined by segmented electrodes and one or more magnetic field cusps, forming ionized air, wherein at least one of the segmented electrodes is biased positive and another of the segmented electrodes is biased negative with respect to the positive biased segmented electrode;
- accelerating the ionized air using applied electric and diverging magnetic fields, forming a plasma jet;
- and
- generating the plasma jet at an outlet of the air-breathing thruster.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.